When Philip Noyes sits down at a chessboard, the other side is already in trouble. Add a blindfold, and the Maryland specialist somehow makes the whole thing look even more lopsided.
Noyes has turned chess into a genuine skill and a very strange locker room flex. He’s spent years sharpening his game, played more than 7,000 online matches, and built the kind of board vision that lets him beat teammates without ever looking at the pieces.
“This isn’t meant to sound arrogant, but I’ve dedicated years of my life to playing chess, so against people who don’t take it very seriously, it’s really not a fair match. It’s not competitive for either person, so I wanted to find a way to level the playing field.”
What he found was a blindfolded version of the game that is equal parts impressive and absurd. After first trying it with Maryland teammates, Noyes won that opening game and kept going from there.
“We were just kind of messing around, but I ended up winning that first game playing blindfolded,” Noyes said. “I didn’t even think I’d be able to finish the whole game, but I did, which is just crazy.”
The setup is simple enough in theory. Noyes calls out the moves he wants, and long snapper Luke O’Hare relays the opponent’s actions back to him. In his head, the board stays alive.
“To be completely honest, playing blindfolded chess sounds really cool to someone who doesn’t play chess much,” Noyes said. “But to people who really play chess and take it seriously, it’s not that difficult. It’s still a cool party trick and something cool that came from years of playing competitive chess.”
That chess obsession started early and far from College Park. Noyes’ mother is Russian, and family trips to visit relatives introduced him to the game through his grandfather when he was just 3 years old. Chess camps followed summer camps, and he eventually worked with professional coaches.
The pandemic pushed things into overdrive. His stepfather introduced him to Chess.com, and Noyes dove in hard, playing game after game against opponents around the world. Since creating his account in 2021, he has logged more than 7,000 online games - about 115 a month, or roughly four a day.
“I literally could not put my phone down. I had to set screen-time limits on my phone in high school because I was literally playing chess between classes, trying to get a few games in. I probably played nonstop online for about nine months.”
He also started traveling for tournaments up and down the East Coast. The results were mixed, including a $400 prize at one event and a rough showing at the Baltimore Open, where he got “whopped” by three-year-olds.
Still, the losses didn’t chase him away. If anything, they reinforced what keeps pulling him back.
No matter how much he learns, there’s always another wrinkle to solve.
That same mindset has carried into Maryland’s locker room, where Noyes became the resident chess guy almost immediately. Teammates challenged him, he kept winning, and eventually the blindfold became part of the act.
The reaction, he said, is usually disbelief more than anger.
“What I’ve noticed is that people are more like, ‘What the ****? There’s no way that’s actually happening,’” Noyes said.
“Most people don’t take it very personally, but if I were to beat someone who takes it seriously while blindfolded, I think they’d get pretty upset. But also, if I tried it against a national player, they would win almost every single time.”
His online rating still sits around 1970, which places him in the top 1% of players nationwide. Chess.com’s handicap system has knocked him down in some matchups, so the record is no longer spotless. But the appeal hasn’t changed.
“I like playing so much because it’s really fun and intellectually stimulating,” Noyes said. “There’s no luck involved, so it’s pure superiority if you beat somebody. Being a football player, I love things like that.”
Football takes up the schedule now, but chess still gets its share of his time. He sneaks in games on flights, bus rides and any other pocket of downtime he can find. Still, he says the balance of his life tilts heavily toward the board.
“100% studying chess,” Noyes said. “As a specialist, we have less film because we really mostly look at ourselves. But on top of that, I’ve been playing chess way longer than I’ve been playing football.”
The economics major also keeps his mind busy in other ways, from trivia to online quizzes. He pushes back on the idea that football players can’t be sharp off the field.
I try my hardest to be as well-rounded as possible. I spend so much time here physically lifting, so when I’m not playing football, I make sure to do things that stimulate my brain.
To be a Division I athlete, you have to be smart. We have to be able to analyze how we can succeed in every situation and environment.
It’s really hard to be stupid and succeed at this level.
Chess may have started as a childhood introduction halfway around the world, but it has followed Noyes all the way to the Maryland locker room. The football field is where he works, but the board is where he keeps testing himself.
And after more than 7,000 games, he’s still not done.
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